Nadezhda: A Friend for the Lonely

Nadezhda, an elderly Soviet Jew, lives in a small, decrepit one-room house in Siberia. The nearest well is three houses away, and since Nadezhda is homebound due to poor health, she must ask someone to fetch water any time she needs to cook or bathe. She washes her clothes outside, and her only bathroom is a small wooden outhouse.

All those closest to her are gone. Her husband died after being in a coma for several years, and her two sons died within a year of each other. This has not only caused her untold grief, but has left her without any means of financial support—other than a meager government pension of just $74 per month.

Nadezhda's only hope and help in the world comes from the local Hesed center, funded by The Fellowship's Isaiah 58 program. Through Hesed (a Hebrew word meaning "loving kindness"), she receives a small stipend every month to help pay for the medications she needs for her many ailments, and money to help her buy groceries. Visits to her home by Hesed workers break through the isolation and loneliness all too common among elderly Jews in this part of the world.

"The loving care provided by our supporters through Isaiah 58 provides not just physical but spiritual nourishment to people with nowhere else to turn," said Rabbi Eckstein, The Fellowship's President and Founder. "In it we truly see the fulfillment of the biblical prophecy in which God promises, 'See, I will beckon to the Gentiles… they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders'" (Isaiah 49:22).

Please give today to Isaiah 58 - so that thousands of elderly Soviet Jews like Nadezhda can enjoy a measure of peace and comfort in their later years.